Richard Hughes IV | Partner, Epstein, Becker & Green
The George Washington University Law School

Richard Hughes IV, J.D., M.P.H. is a Partner at the Washington, D.C. health care law firm, Epstein, Becker & Green and a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the The George Washington University Law School. His practice, teaching and thought leadership focus on access to preventive health care, including vaccines, PREP for HIV and contraceptives.

Richard is the former Vice President of Public Policy at Moderna. He previously founded and led the vaccines and preventive services group at Avalere Health, a Washington healthcare consultancy. Prior to practicing law, Richard served in several health policy leadership roles. He was a gubernatorial appointee to the Arkansas State Board of Health, then Director of State Health Policy at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and Region Policy Executive with Merck.

Prior to joining the law faculty, Richard held an academic appointment at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. During law school at The George Washington University, he served as legal research assistant to Professor Sara Rosenbaum, renowned health law scholar and Founding Chair of the GWU Department of Health Policy. In addition to his Juris Doctor, Richard holds a Master of Public Health degree. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is also a member of the national Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health.

Appearances:

Pre-Congress Workshops - 21st April @ 10:00

Optimizing mAbs for Infectious Diseases

OPTIMIZING mAbs FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES [W3] – 10am – 5pm

Room 202B

10am Workshop leader’s opening remarks: Dr Michel De Wilde, Former Senior Vice President R&D at Sanofi Pasteur & Owner, MDW Consultant LLC

Presentations: Developing improved mAbs for Infectious Diseases:

Global Health:

10.10 -10.30 Strategies to optimize mAbs for malaria

Dr Neville Kisalu, Senior Scientist, Cellular Immunology Section, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

10.30 – 10.50 Development of mAbs for unmet needs in global health * Title TBC

Dr Chia Wei Tsai, Vice President, Mapp Biopharma

10.50 – 11:10 mAbs to prevent vertical transmission of HIV: a pathway to impact

Shelly Malhorta, IAVI

Respiratory diseases:

11:10 – 11:30 Expanding the reach of immune therapies: nucleic acid delivery of antibodies

Antonio DiGiandomenico, Senior Director, Bacterial Antibodies, AstraZeneca

11:30 – 11:50 Developing mAb therapies that keep pace with rapidly evolving viral threats (COVID)

Dr Robert Allen, CSO, Invivyd

11:50 – 12:10 A New Frontier in mAb Therapeutics: DNA-Encoded Monoclonal Antibodies (DMAb™)

Dr Dave Liebowitz, Senior Vice President, Early-Stage Clinical Development, Inovio

12.10 – 12.30 Vaccination with Next-Generation Influenza Vaccines May Preferentially Recall Influenza Hemagglutinin-Directed Antibodies Endowed with Broadly Neutralizing Activity

Dr Giuseppe Sautto, Assistant Professor, Cleveland Clinic

12.30 – 12.50pm Computationally optimizing antibodies for infectious disease

Dr Daniel Faissol, Principal Investigator, Center for Bioengineering, Executive Director, Predictive Design of Biologics, LLNL

1pm Break

2pm Beyond mAbs: The Next Generation of Antibody Therapeutics for Treating Infectious Diseases

Sheila Keating, VP Immunology, Grifols

2.30pm Commercialization challenges for mAb products – understanding pathways to recommendation

Richard Hughes, Partner, Epstein Becker & Green, Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School

3.00pm Panel: NextGen AI / computational technologies for improved vaccines and therapeutics

Introductory Presentation: Jonathan Heeney, CSO, DIOSynVax

Discussion:

Approaches to antibody-antigen interaction prediction / antigen payload synthesis

What are the challenges of computational approaches, how can we ensure more accurate/higher prediction rates

What are the implications of these new technologies for antibody and vaccine development?

What are the challenges of moving from traditional approaches to computational approaches – is it hard to keep up with technology?

Moderator: Jonathan Heeney, CSO, DIOSynVax

Dr Giuseppe Sautto, Assistant Professor, Cleveland Clinic

Dr Fadil Bidmos, UK MRC Senior (Non-Clinical) Fellow, Imperial College London

Dr Daniel Faissol, Principal Investigator, Center for Bioengineering, Executive Director, Predictive Design of Biologics, LLNL

4.15pm End of workshop